It seems Epic tournament play hasn't quite taken off or has had the popularity of standard, nor have there been too many tournaments run for it (with corresponding prize support).

Why is this the case and shouldn't more tournaments be run for it?

Epic play is very new, and many of the players can't expand into that territory yet because it requires soooo many points. It can be hard for casual players to get into it, and then your playerbase gets smaller and smaller.

Plus, the lack of Imp ships can also be a bit of a deterrent. I suspect we will see official Epic tourneys once Imps get something to even the field.

Epic rules are brand new. There are no Imperial Huge ships to get the bad guys to play Epic.

Yes there will be more tournaments when there are more Epic goodies.

Epic rules are brand new. There are no Imperial Huge ships to get the bad guys to play Epic.

Yes there will be more tournaments when there are more Epic goodies.

Seconded! Epic will gain popularity but it'll never rival the smaller dogfights, it costs more to get enough ships to have the ships to pick n choose squadrons, the space needed is bigger and the time required is longer. On the other hand-IT TOTALLY KICKS ASS!!!! I LOVE IT!!!

It's a bloodbath compared to standard play and all the better for it:-)

I've only recently experienced the amazing beast that is epic play, but I think my opinion of why there are fewer (read "no") tournaments is twofold:

1. No Imperial Epic ships as of yet to keep things somewhat balanced. (Which I personally find amusing since the Imps relied heavily on larger ships, where the Rebellion was more devoted to fighter combat.)

2. The time factor.

The way X-Wing has been set up to this point has been that it is an easy game to pick up for veteran table top gamer and newbie alike. Tournaments for dogfights riff on this, with each battle limited to around an hour. Epic play tends to take up a whole lot more time. So for a decent sized epic play tourney, it would either need to be a very long day, or a multi-day event. I think that would deter most casual players. Not that I am against either of those things, I have participated in many similar events with historical wargaming, but I see that being a major hurdle for FFG to jump over.

(edited for grammar)

Sorry to disagree...Epic takes so long to play. Players open to Epic already have enought ships. Time to play is the factor I see holding it back.

Funny thing, everyone really wants to play it. Even without large ships, large scale games have their attraction. Its just the time to play.

I actually love it.

My opinion.

I've only recently experienced the amazing beast that is epic play, but I think my opinion of why there are fewer (read "no") tournaments is twofold:

1. No Imperial Epic ships as of yet to keep things somewhat balanced. (Which I personally find amusing since the Imps relied heavily on larger ships, where the Rebellion was more devoted to fighter combat.)

2. The time factor.

The way X-Wing has been set up to this point has been that it is an easy game to pick up for veteran table top gamer and newbie alike. Tournaments for dogfights riff on this, with each battle limited to around an hour. Epic play tends to take up a whole lot more time. So for a decent sized epic play tourney, it would either need to be a very long day, or a multi-day event. I think that would deter most casual players. Not that I am against either of those things, I have participated in many similar events with historical wargaming, but I see that being a major hurdle for FFG to jump over.

(edited for grammar)

Recently played in my first epic tourney-super enjoyed it, the format was 2hr rounds instead of the 1hr rounds for 100pt squadrons. Worked really well, allowing multiple rounds in the one day. The limited time encouraged frenetic play so action was guaranteed from start to finish. And yeah as an upstanding member of the glorious and honourable galactic empire I'd be all over some imperial huge ships but I have to say its great swarming a huge rebel ship with a ton of fighters and taking it down with a fusillade of blaster cannon shots too..... :-)

Epic rules are brand new. There are no Imperial Huge ships to get the bad guys to play Epic.

Yes there will be more tournaments when there are more Epic goodies.

Seconded! Epic will gain popularity but it'll never rival the smaller dogfights, it costs more to get enough ships to have the ships to pick n choose squadrons, the space needed is bigger and the time required is longer. On the other hand-IT TOTALLY KICKS ASS!!!! I LOVE IT!!!

It's a bloodbath compared to standard play and all the better for it:-)

I'll heartily second your second.

X-WING EPIC IS STAR WARS.

Played a couple with 2 hour rounds and they are great fun. They were before the huge ships got to start with energy so they would be very different now. Lots of fun and a very different style of play. Can not stress enough how early in the day you need to start these. We usually play at least one team epic game a week at my LGS and we are getting much faster at it. Still daunting to do but I can't wait for the next epic tournament.